IronPigs blank Norfolk 4-0 behind Valdes, bullpen

Four pitchers combine on a 4-0 shutout. Three relievers strand five baserunners.

May 24, 2013|By Jeff Schuler, Of The Morning Call

Isn't it amazing what a little pitching can do for a team?

A week ago, Norfolk battered the Lehigh Valley pitching staff for 37 runs, batting .361 as a team and slugging .556 with nine home runs while taking three of four in Virginia.

Through the first two games of their return engagement this weekend at Coca-Cola Park, the Tides' bats have been quieted. And not so coincidently, the IronPigs have a pair of wins as well.

Raul Valdes and three relievers combined to hand Norfolk its first shutout loss since April 11 in a 4-0 IronPigs win before a frigid Friday night crowd of 8,424, Lehigh Valley's fourth straight win and sixth in seven games.

Over the first two games of the series the Tides (31-17) are hitting just .211 (15-for-71) with a pair of doubles and have scored only three runs.

Norfolk is also 2-for-21 with runners in scoring position, and relievers Cesar Jimenez, Phillippe Aumont and Jake Diekman combined to hold the Tides hitless in four at-bats with RISP and stranded all five inherited runners, three in scoring position.

"We've focused a lot on that, that when guys are on base you come in and try to do the best you can," said Jimenez, who got the last out of the fifth inning with runners on second and third.

"The main thing tonight was guys entering the ballgame and doing what they're supposed to do," IronPigs manager Dave Brundage said. "That's a big stat."

A two-out throwing error on a routine grounder by Cesar Hernandez cost Valdes a shot at picking up his first victory as a starter since May 2, 2011, when he pitched six innings of Memphis' 4-1 win over New Orleans.

The two-out misplay ended Valdes' night after 87 pitches, and put runners at second and third in the fifth. Brundage said there was no temptation to allow Valdes to go for the out to qualify for the win, explaining, "I had already said, 'Last hitter," and he struck out the guy on three straight pitches, so I said I had to give him an opportunity," a smiling Brundage said, referring to the Ryan Flaherty at-bat that resulted in the error. "He earned the right to get that win, but at the same time I don't want to put him in jeopardy."

Jimenez (1-1) stranded both runners when he got Russ Canzler on a pop-up to second that ended the inning and ended up getting the win, allowing three hits without a walk and throwing just 37 pitches (24 strikes)..

It was the third time this year Jimenez has worked three or more innings out of the bullpen to go with three spot starts where he's thrown at least four innings. His ERA as a reliever is 2.75 (six earned runs in 19 2/3 innings), and all of those runs have come in four innings over two outings.

"Right now I feel really good, and I'm just here to work," Jimenez said. "Whatever they want me to do, I do it."

Valdes scattered five hits and walked one, striking out five. The 4 2/3 shutout innings extended his scoreless streak to 8 2/3 innings since his return from the Phillies last week, and also stretched his overall Triple-A streak to 20 2/3 over his last eight outings with the IronPigs dating back to last May 3.

"He worked with good pace, threw strikes, pounded the zone," Brundage said. "There's a lot to like about his performance today."

Between the two left handers, they held the Tides, batting .290 against southpaws, to eight hits, seven of them singles, in 32 at-bats.

Jake Diekman got the save for the second straight night and his sixth overall, coming on after Phillippe Aumont, who struck out Luis Exposito on four pitches to end the eighth, walked the first two batters in the ninth. Afterward, Brundage was reluctant to talk about Aumont's ninth inning, instead focusing on the Exposito at-bat. "He came out throwing strikes," Brundage said.

Diekman got a fielder's choice grounder for the first out, then struck out L.J. Hoes and Flaherty in "arguably his best performance of the year."

The IronPigs (22-25) took advantage of an error to score a second-inning run, and later strung together three two-out hits with a walk to score three times in the third. Josh Fields singled home the first run, and Leandro Castro the last two after Cody Asche's two-out double lit the fuse.

The IronPigs also matched the franchise record with five steals, two by Castro.

"We played aggressive, and got to play our game tonight," Brundage said, adding those two-out hits "goes hand-in-hand with winning baseball.

"If you're getting big hits with two outs, that's a pretty good recipe for winning baseball," he said.

Left fielder Darin Ruf was scratched about 90 minutes before game time to rest what was described as a "hand stinger" he sustained the night before. Brundage said there's a good chance Ruf will be able to play Saturday.